Location is Everything

In some ways we love Massachusetts more than you would expect.  Especially this part of it, between it being pleasantly purple and being in one of the most “southern” climate zones that cut through the state.  It always fascinated me that the seed catalogs showed, if I recall correctly, five climate bands going through Massachusetts.  Not a surprise, based on the actual weather variations.  The one I was in growing up in (not sure I’m allowed to say what town that was), which is probably this same one, dove surprisingly deep into the south.  The taxes aren’t as absurd as generally reputed.  The dominance of democrats in the state is of an odd sort, almost like the politicians of the one party are of multiple parties, and it’s just that you have to claim to be a democrat to have any chance to get elected.

However, there are various reasons we might like to leave eventually.  It’ll take some time to work around to it, and it might not happen if we get sufficiently entrenched in a “tied to location” sort of way again, as I was with the old business.  Which may be fine, if it’s worth my while.

We’re relatively open to the many available options, but there are certain preferences and requirements to consider…

No offense to some of you, but we’ve been increasingly interested in living not-so-close to so many relatives.  An exception would be Wayne, which makes Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky sound more intriguing than any of them might otherwise.  Except Ohio is an especially high tax state, and they arrested and created a living hell for an old friend of mine for legally carrying a gun through the state.

Obviously the lower the taxes, the better.

Obviously the closer to “hey, we read the 2nd Amendment with the reading comprehension of a 1st grader and didn’t ignore it” the state is, the better.

Low cost of living would be helpful, at least in proportion to available income.

Though obviously if it’s low but nobody can find work, that’s kind of bad, depending on…

Ease and cost of getting solid broadband is vital, especially to the degree there’s not local work and you have to do all the more online, not to mention it’s good in connection with…

Home schooling.  This is perhaps the single biggest factor, not having a hassle about that, since we are ever more sure we just can’t inflict the insane system on these kids.

Availability of reasonably priced rental housing of adequate size would probably be helpful.  Not like we’d be moving there and walking into a house purchase.  We have a lot of recovering and houses have a lot of market adjustment to go before that’ll happen.  Plus it’s healthy for there to be rental housing, and a range of available options, rather than a monolithic landscape of houses of a certain size.

Religion is fine if it’s your thing.  We’ve been known to have friends and get along well with people who swing that way.  However, even if it’s a substantially or monolithically religious area, it should never be uncomfortable or oppressive for those of us who don’t partake.

Despite the school system seeming crazy, this is one of the more libertarian-leaning parts of the state.  If we can’t get a state like that, the least we’d prefer is another local area along those lines.

I’ve probably forgotten something, as it’s taken me much of the day off and on to peck this out.  I guess distance from family could be a factor in terms of starting distance.  For instance, it’d be kind of silly to move to Rhode Island and be essentially as handy to the psychic locusts as we are now.  I also meant to note that in general warmer is better than colder, and I wouldn’t rush to move somewhere that requires snow to be removed from a roof lest it collapse more than, say, as a once in a lifetime anomaly.

People we know in the area, but who are low stress, would certainly be a bonus enticement.

We’ve thought about Texas over the years, which is about as easy as it gets for homeschooling, as I understand it.  It would triangulate to about the maximum distance from both sides, even as we could tout it as offering equality of access and being fairer.  We’ve thought about Alabama, in part because of how much Deb liked the Gulf Coast area in the past.  South Carolina seems to be the current fad, and I can see that.  Kentucky strikes me as an interesting possibility, mentioned earlier.  Not sure all the details of how those states really would be for the main goals.

Oh!  Forgot one of my key points and almost posted without it.  The whole health insurance thing.  RomneyCare has to go.  Getting rid of it personally by moving would be great, assuming it hasn’t gone national by then.  If it hasn’t, we’d still be paying some attention to how difficult it might be to get individual coverage in a given state, at what cost and with what gotcha regarding anything that could be called a preexisting condition.

Thoughts?  Where would you move, if you felt free to do so?

1. New Hampshire Or Vermont.  This based only on the states I have visited.  I am a very visual person, and it would be hard for me to say that I’d like to live, in say, Indiana, having never been there.  Taxes, schools, health insurance etc,. issues aside, NH and VT are two places that I have visited on numerous occasions, and fallen more and more in love with every time.  It may seem trivial but, it’s the scenery mostly (again with the visual thing).  I just find it hard to imagine not waking every day in awe of the beauty.  I have always felt at peace in both places, and, that’s important.

   Posted by Sharon  on  03/04  at  12:09 AM  from 

2. What about Southern California? I might be moving there, and I’m low stress. Then again, I might not. We’ll just have to wait and see how things work out. I definatly want to get out of New England. I can not stand cold weather period.

   Posted by  on  03/04  at  02:56 AM  from  Mass

3. I would LOVE to get out of Virginia.  Talk about high cost of living! Personally, I would love to move back to the upper midwest where people are actually nice.  Not “southern hospitality” fake, but really kind, nice, helpful people.

   Posted by  on  03/04  at  07:16 AM  from  too close to DC

4. We just went through this last year; since we’re both work-at-home we could go pretty much anywhere. We ended up with a big spreadsheet ticking off various factors, and then narrowed it down. Important to us (not necessarily to you!) were gun laws (we wanted a “shall issue") state, homeschooling, some higher ed nearby, moderate climate, not too close to family, reasonable access to stuff for the kids, no skyrocketing housing costs, and a medium-sized (150K or so) city. After all that, we ended up in the Evansville, Indiana area. So far it’s working great for us.

   Check HSLDA for homeschooling info; Texas is good apart from compulsory subjects (which aren’t too onerous).

   Or come join us. There are a couple of houses for sale in our subdivision

   Posted by Mike Gunderloy  on  03/04  at  08:08 AM  from  Newburgh

5. Florida and Washington state are both beautiful, lower cost than Massachusetts (Boston area, anyway), and have no income tax.  I’d also consider Hawaii, just because I think it’d be awesome to live in paradise.

   Posted by rob sama  on  03/04  at  09:17 AM  from 

6. we both loved living in North Carolina, so either North or South would be acceptable.... Central California is home, so that’s always on the list… We also loved South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho.

   Posted by caltechgirl  on  03/04  at  11:18 AM  from 

7. Well, if our mortgage went away and we were suddenly independently wealthy?

   New Mexico.

   It’s closer to MY relates, for a change.  :o)

   Posted by  on  03/04  at  02:43 PM  from 

8. I have considered New Mexico. I loved the look and Feel of Nevada though to hot would bother me.
   @Mike Gunderloy I know Evensville pretty well. I’ve worked down there alot.  Its a nice area. Indiana is pretty nice.  Although This Ice storm I’m sitting in a little north of Indy is sucking pretty bad right about now. 
   Vermont and NH are nice to look at but the winters suck, And finding work up there can be a chore.  I tried for a while.
   Washington State is a place I really want to go check out sometime.
   I would love to have the money to spend some time in a bunch of states to really see what they are like..

   Posted by Wayne  on  03/04  at  03:22 PM  from  Ohio

9. I would love to live in Sandpoint, ID, but gad, that place is crawlin’ with retired LA cops.  (LMAO)

   Posted by  on  03/05  at  05:10 PM  from 

10. Um… I enjoy Houston, and it meets all your criteria… And it is on your list.  From the talk I have heard at our local gun range, If the feds ever tried to get rid of the 2nd admendment, Texas would try to suceed, and it would be a street by street battle…

    And trust me when I tell you that the two of you would probably fit right in…

    Posted by  on  03/06  at  03:17 PM  from  Houston

11. You should definitely take a closer look at Kentucky.  It meets all of your criteria as best as I can tell.  Housing is quite reasonable, especially compared to New England or Texas.  Taxes, while not low to us here, are low by national standards although there is a an income tax which is a negative.  Property taxes are not too high however.

    The state is home schooling friendly from what I can tell.  I have had friends who have home schooled their kids with minimal issues from the state - at least none that have risen to the level that caused them to mention them so I assume that they were minor at best.  As for 2nd Amendment, well, this is Kentucky, you can carry a gun pretty well any where your little heart desires, and with a permit, it can be concealed as well.

    Climate is fairly moderate - although full disclosure requires me to confess to 10 inches of snow outside my window.  It was the only measurable snowstorm of the year.  In sum, check into closely - it’s worth a look.

    Posted by Mark  on  03/10  at  10:21 PM  from  Louisville
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